Pubdate: Mon, 12 Dec 2005
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2005 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Paul Samyn and Bruce Owen

MARTIN TO FIGHT METH

More Inspectors Promised to Target Key Ingredients

PRIME Minister Paul Martin is ready to steer more resources to Health
Canada to help fight the illegal flow of stimulants to crystal meth
labs.

In an interview on the eve of today's campaign visit to Winnipeg,
Martin said he has given Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh the green light
to increase the number of inspectors waging what has been a losing war
in keeping tabs on the flow of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

"I have authorized (Dosanjh) that, if in fact, further personnel are
required, then they will be made available," Martin told the Free
Press yesterday.

"We are not going to let crystal meth beat us." Martin was commenting
on a Free Press investigation that revealed that more than half the
ephedrine imported into Canada through companies licensed by the
federal government ends up in illegal labs that make crystal meth.

Health Canada has often appeared powerless to prevent the bulk sale of
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to criminals who make methamphetamine by
the kilo.

The Free Press also discovered that the prime ingredients used to make
crystal methamphetamine are easily available in Winnipeg, despite
tougher federal rules introduced in 2003 to restrict their sale.

Health Canada is the federal body responsible for tracking the
movement of the two chemicals -- they are designated as precursor
chemicals under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act -- but critics
have said the national regulator has failed in its duty.

Martin said the threat posed by crystal meth was made clear to him
earlier this year when he spoke to Mounties gathered in Edmonton to
honour four slain RCMP officers. During conversations with RCMP
officers then and again this summer with the Mounties in Saskatchewan,
Martin said he learned how big a law-and-order concern crystal meth
has become across Western Canada.

"I've got to tell you, I think crystal meth is a very serious
problem."

Crystal meth is cheaper than crack cocaine. One-tenth of a gram for
$10 can keep a user high longer than a $40 rock (one-quarter gram) of
crack.

It's easy to make. The drug -- with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as
main ingredients -- can be made on a stovetop with some specialized
equipment. And the high lasts up to 12 hours, causing the brain to
release huge amounts of dopamine, a natural chemical associated with
feelings of pleasure and joy.

The consequences are grave, however. Up to 90 per cent of users become
addicts. Long-term use leads to many serious problems including
psychotic behaviour.

Martin's comments come as plans are also taking shape within the
Public Security Ministry, the RCMP and Health Canada to combat the
hold bikers and other gangs have on crystal meth.

Part of the proposed strategy would be to beef up not only the RCMP's
ability to track down the labs making meth, but also the role Health
Canada plays in tracking the cold-medication ingredients used to make
it.

At this point, there is no indication of how much extra money there
may be for either the RCMP or Health Canada to take part in this new
war on drugs. However, as part of the prime minister's promise to ban
handguns and fight the increase in gun violence announced Thursday in
Toronto, there is a $225-million fund for an RCMP Advanced Community
Safety and Rapid Enforcement Team. While the focus of the five-year
funding program is to have the RCMP take aim at handguns, there is
enough flexibility in the fund to enable provinces and the Mounties to
instead use that funding to tackle crystal meth labs.

Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh has called on Ottawa to
appoint the RCMP to take over from Health Canada's licence and permit
inspectors.

Meanwhile, Healthy Living Minister Teresa Oswald says the province
intends to increase treatment services for methamphetamine addicts.

In the coming weeks, Oswald said, the province will increase funding
to get more young people into long-term treatment through the
Behavioral Health Foundation. The funds will help cover an additional
seven beds and the $214 per diem clients and families have had to pay
in full.

The province has 350 beds for treatment for drug addiction and mental
health issues. "There's no question" we should increase that number,
Oswald said.

Law enforcement officials blame much of the mass production of
methamphetamine in Canada on the Hells Angels and Asian-based
organized crime groups.

"Both Health Canada and the RCMP are going to try to work on the
strategy in a more co-ordinated fashion," said Alex Swann, a spokesman
for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety Anne McLellan.

The provinces have been pushing Ottawa for the past year to take a
hard line against crystal meth. Provincial and territorial ministers
responsible for justice pleaded their case with McLellan at a meeting
in Whitehorse Nov. 8-9. Last August, the federal government toughened
the jail terms for those involved in trafficking crystal meth.

It increased the maximum jail term for producing, trafficking,
importing or exporting crystal methamphetamine from 10 years to life
in prison.

Further initiatives were underway before the federal election was
called Nov. 29.

Oswald hopes that once the election is over, federal officials will
help develop a national awareness campaign against meth.

She added the province is also expanding the number of outreach
workers available to young people through the Addictions Foundation of
Manitoba in Winnipeg and Thompson.

It means a young person dealing with meth abuse can get help through
places like Macdonald Youth Services and Ndinawe, an inner-city safe
house for youth. Oswald said the province's services will be based on
the AFM's Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
Initiative, as in many cases, addicts have underlying mental health
issues.

It means many front-line health-care workers are also being trained to
deal with meth users.

Oswald noted the province is still studying mandatory detox for youth
under age 18, a controversial policy designed to permit parents to
force their kids into treatment. Saskatchewan and Alberta have already
said they will adopt the policy.

Yvonne Block, director of Mental Health and Addiction at Manitoba
Health and co-chairwoman of the Manitoba Meth Task Force, said the
province's TV ads against meth use -- they started running in the
second week of November -- have so far prompted almost 6,000 requests
for brochures on meth and 2,436 visits to the government's website
(http://www.gov.mb.ca/crystalmeth/). More than 1,800 brochures have
been downloaded.

The province, along with Saskatchewan and Alberta, is also moving to
restrict the over-the-counter sale of single-source pseudoephedrine
products to reduce the chances of the popular cold remedy being used
to make meth. Ontario is looking at similar restrictions.

Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, both decongestants, fall under the
control of Health Canada and are legally imported into Canada.

RCMP Sgt. Vianney Tremblay, head of the Mounties' chemical diversion
program, said Health Canada and other federal officials are monitoring
the problem.

He added Health Canada is to add six new substances to Canada's
Precursor Control Regulations next month to prevent them being used in
clandestine labs to make crystal meth and gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB),
also known as a "date rape" drug.

The six chemicals are gamma butyrolactone, butanediol, red phosphorus,
white phosphorus, hypophosphorous acid and hydriodic acid. Clandestine
meth labs are considered by law enforcement as one of the most
dangerous public safety threats in Canada. The labs produce a toxic
brew of chemicals that must be dumped after the methamphetamine is
made. In some cases, these labs are only discovered when noxious fumes
are detected or they blow up.

"Clearly we are not just looking to crack down on importation and
diversion and manufacturing. We are also looking at the risks they
pose to first responders and to communities by these clandestine
labs," Swann said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake